a little dated, it's because they come from july 27th, 2009. the very first day of "way too early." today, november 9th, 2012, is my last day on this show. as you may have heard, i'm leaving to tour with one direction. it's going to be very exciting. no, i'm headed across the street for a new gig. you'll still see me on "morning joe." don't worry. you'll still have something to watch on the treadmill, the show we have had so much fun bringing you here will live on. my friends joe and mika will hold down the fort until we can lure larry king out of retirement. offers are out to both. you work in exchange for free starbucks pastries. today i want to hear from you, our loyal family of sleep depri deprived. let's be honest with each other. at 2:30 a.m. on the west coast, completely baked viewers. you can tweet me @williegeist. or do what the great jen litman

does every morning with a big warm smile and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 62269. we'll read a bunch of them at the end of the show. that's jen litman. there is actual news this morning, so let's get to it one more time at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. today, president obama will make his first post-election address. he'll discuss the so-called fiscal cliff and what needs to be done to avoid the january 1st deadline that would trigger a combination of tax cuts and deep spending cuts. tax increases, i should say. the president not expected to put forward a specific plan yet, but he will call on politicians from both parties to get together to tackle the nation's fiscal trouble. this is a new report from the congressional budget office, warns that a fiscal cliff would, in the short term, drive the u.s. economy back into recession and push the unemployment rate up to 9.1% by the end of the fourth quarter next year. the report also projects that after the initial shock, growth would return and the

unemployment rate would shrink to 5.5%, but not until 2018. house speaker john boehner yesterday remained steadfast in his position on raising taxes. >> i remain optimistic we're going to be able to find common ground avoid this fiscal cliff and find a way to work together. >> by when? january 1st? >> i would hope so. >> the president is talking about specific increases. he campaigned on specific increases and tax rates from 35% to 39% for those making more than $250,000. so is that on the table right now? >> raising taxes on small business people is the wrong prescription given where our economy is. >> is it on the table to talk about? >> i made clear -- >> to have the wealthier americans pitch in. >> -- that raising tax rates is unacceptable. frankly, it couldn't pass the

house. >> you will talk about it even if it's the wrong approach. >> of course we'll talk about it. we'll talk about all kinds of things we may disagree on. i'm the most reasonable, responsible here in washington. the president knows this. he knows that he and i can work together. the election is over. now it's time to get to work. >> speaker boehner sounded ready to pull back a bit on his party's efforts to repeal the president's signature health care law. >> i think the election changes that. it's pretty clear that the president was re-elected. obamacare is the law of the land. >> but you won't be spending the time next year trying to repeal obamacare. >> there certainly may be parts we believe need to be changed. we may do that. no decisions at this point. >> diane sawyer asked speaker boehner about the first thing he said to himself when he realized the president had been re-elected. >> it's the hand i was dealt. i'll play it. i went to bed.

>> right away? >> 11:15. i saw the handwriting on the wall for a couple hours. at 11:15, the race was, in my view, finished. >> speaker also said he's confident congress will reach a deal with the president on comprehensive immigration reform. that's a nod to the demographic thrashing mitt romney took on tuesday night among latinos. well, not that it matters now, but today we should get official word on which candidate won florida. although the romney campaign has pretty much thrown in the towel there. nbc confirms team romney will not contest the results in the sunshine state regardless of the outcome. right now president obama is ahead with 49.9% of the vote compared to mr. romney's 49.2 with mostly democratic leaning counties left to be counted. that's about a margin just large enough to avoid an automatic recount. by win withing florida, president obama would finish

with 332 electoral college votes to romney's 206. that would be the large est marn of victory for an incumbent since 1984. the obama campaign has released video of president obama giving a short speech to a young staff and volunteers at his campaign headquarters in chicago. the emotions of a long campaign come rushing over the president. >> even before last night's results, i felt that the work that i had done in running for office had come full circle. because what you guys have done means that the work that i'm doing is important. i'm really proud of that. i'm really proud of all of you. and what you've -- [ cheers and applause ] >> great moment at end of a long

campaign. you'll remember the president also got as by nostalgic and teary during his final campaign rally monday night in des moines, iowa. the man responsible for a horrifying shooting rampage in tucson, arizona, that left six dead and 13 others wounded, including former congresswoman gabrielle giffords, has been sentenced to seven life terms in prison. in a dramatic courtroom scene, gaby giffords and her husband mark kelly came face to face with the gunman who altered their lives and so many others that morning in january of 2011. nbc's miguel almaguer has more from federal court in tucson. >> reporter: one by one -- >> it's going to be greats. we're not going to let him win. >> reporter: victims arrived at federal court to face the gunman who killed six and wounded 13. former congresswoman gabby giffords faced him for the fist time since the shooting. giffords looks toicly at

loughner and held her husband's hand as mark kelly spoke firmly. you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her spirit. after today, after this moment, here and now, gabby and i are done thinking about you. the victims say this isn't closure but a step forward. >> i will never forget the horror of that day, the loss of my dear friend gabe zimmerman, the loss and wounding of so many good people. >> reporter: the courtroom was packed with victims and their families. shot in the face and leg, ron barber now fills giffords' seat in congress. i feel no hatred toward you, he says. now you must live with this burden and never again see the outside of a prison. the january th, 2011, congress on your corner shooting left a member of giffords' staff, a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl, and three others dead. suzy heilman brought the youngest victim, 9-year-old

christina taylor-green, to meet giffords. she told loughner, you turned a civics lesson into a nightmare. i want to choke you. this woman's husband was killed using his body shield haddiing from the gunfire. he sa she said, you took away my life, my love, and my reason for living. your family is not to blame. >> nbc's miguel almaguer reporting there. the sentencing end's loughner's federal case. he can still be tried in arizona state court. local authorities say that is unlikely. still ahead this morning on "way too early," we make a swing to sports. rookie quarterback andrew luck already has made the 2-14 season last year a distant memory for the indianapolis colts. luck leads indy to another win in a little thursday night football. the letters m, v, and p are on

some people's lips. and the new york area continues to cope with the effect of sandy. that's when "way too early" comes right back. joining us see ya skype, msnbc political analyst mark halperin. not just any skype. he's aboard a delta flight somewhere over the united states. what are you doing here, man? are you really in the can? >> i really am. it's a red eye flight. didn't want to bother my fellow passengers. i'm in the quiet room, also known as the lavatory. it's making nbc history. >> it is. mark halperin inside the lavatory via skype. thanks so much. hey sis,

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welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:43 in the morning. the sun not yet up. that's our view. you see it every morning about this time from the top of our building at 30 rock looking south down into manhattan. a new gas rationing plan goes into effect here in new york city today as the area continues to fight the effects of last week's storm that put hundreds of stations out of commission. gas sales will be restricted to cars with even numbered license plates on even days and odd numbered ones on odd days. mayor bloomberg says the shortage could last another couple weeks as this region tries to recover from that superstorm sandy. all right. let's get a check on your weather now from nbc meteorologist and my good friend bill karins. bill, good morning. >> you know, i never approved of this being your last show. >> you didn't know until about five minutes ago, did you? >> yeah, tears. let me get quickly to your

forecast and we'll get to the good stuff. we're watching for the most part a big change in the weather pattern. we needed it in the northeast. we needed the warm air for the weekend, especially after all the power outages. that's coming our way. the only big storm is in the west. that, on saturday, will start to sweep through the northern plains. east coast looks great all weekend. the center of the country is where we're going to have the wet weather and any issues out there as far as your weekend plans go. willie, the thing i'm going to miss most around here is how you always went oprah-like big for your anniversary shows. the first one, let's take a look. >> oh, we have some video? >> look at that crowd. this was the first anniversary. >> see those four balloons we taped to a street sign back there? that cost this show, i think it was $3.48. >> wow. >> so we couldn't do anything else for a couple months after. i believe it was totally worth it. that was july of 2010. i seem to recall another anniversary, bill, where you helped out. i don't think we have the pictures right now. you were standing at your

weather center, and you just sort of sadly inflated balloons and threw them down at me one by one. i think we were up to eight balloons. it was progress. >> i'll miss you, big guy. >> i'll miss you, bill. to sports now. andrew luck putting together a hell of a season for him and his team. last week, 433 yards passing for the kid. indianapolis visiting the jags in jacksonville last night and looking to go 6-3 after that miserable 2-14 season last year. colts players still sporting those shaved heads in honor of head coach going through treatment for leukemia. the colts finds themselves in the red are zone. luck roms right, pump fakes and keeps the thing, plowing through a couple defenders for the score. they jump to an early 10-0 lead. luck showing the arm a few minutes later, hitting donny avery for 44 yards. that set up another red zone opportunity for the colts.

on fourth and 1 along the goal line, luck keeps it himself. he's a big man. gets some help from his offensive line. jags thought they stopped them. the refs say touchdown. officials refuse to review the play upstairs. jacksonville head coach is livid, throwing the clipboard on the field, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. luck goes for 227 yards and ran for two scores. the colts won their fourth game in a row beating the jags 27-10. indianapolis, 6-3. nobody saw that coming. coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," john boehner says he's ready to be led. will the president reach out today, or is this all just honeymoon talk before we go back to business as usual in washington? we'll knock all that around with our "morning joe" crew. when we come back here, i'll be totally honest with you, i have no idea what's going to happen. i'm told we have a couple mystery guests on the phone. just hope it's not my parole officer or, god forbid, my

chronicle. "way too early" coming right back. the african-american players -- donny, what's up, man? this is nice. you know we're on tv, right? thanks, buddy. appreciate it. this is awkward. is this happening? are we on? the african-american players on duke at the time -- i'm freaking out man. why? i thought jill was your soul mate. no, no it's her dad. the general's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a killer investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him.

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good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early," the show that has only two wrong sides of the bed to choose from when waking up in the middle of the night. >> we host ever show like it's a must-win, even though the stakes are extraordinarily low. >> the show that avoids those embarrassing cancellations just by not having guests on the program at all. just me and karins over here. >> the show that like our leaders on capitol hill was up late into the night, except we were watching the real housewives of new york reunion. still, we were up late. do you hear what ramona said to jill? >> the show that would never let down its base of insomniacs, nursing mothers, and straight up drunks. >> the show that believes the people up watching this show are members of a colt. >> the show that dresses in the dark and stumbles through the rest of the day all to deliver the news in a near empty studio full of dudes. winning. that's actually not true. jen litman is here with us every morning. we told you at the top of the show that "way too early"

premiered at 5:30 a.m. on july 27th, 2009. from the day that launched to my last show here today, we've been on the air for 874 shows. as those of you on graveyard shifts know all too well, that translates into a lot of lost sleep. if you want to sound smart today, i'm not sure this will help. tell your friends that for well over three years we've been going on about five hours of sleep a night. when you compare that to the remmed eight hours, i've lost 2,622 hours of shut eye. that's 109 days. yes, we took the time to crunch the numbers on that one. all right. now this is the part of the show where i lose total creative control, and i don't love that. john tower in the control room, i'm told we have people on the phone. take it away. >> yes, we have one guest standing by. go ahead, andy. just jump in. >> willy, it's andy cohen. it is way too freaking early. i want you to know that, you

know, my schedule is so screwed up that i don't wake up to you. you actually have been putting me to bed over the past three years. and i just got to tell you, you are -- you remain a fine, upstanding, fair-skinned, reasonable ginger. >> yes, it's not -- he insists i'm a ginger. >> i could not be more excited you are moving on to later hours in the morning. i need to find someone else to put me to bed now. congratulations. i feel that your alarm clock now will be set a wee bit later so we can look forward to more shotskis in the bravo clubhouse . >> definitely. i was going to say, andy kept me up late doing shots. you see me here with lil' kim. another time slow dancing with tiffany amber theissen. you created the two best moments of my life in your clubhouse. andy, have you been to bed yet?

this is not a bit. andy is a man who enjoys the evening. >> i wrapped it up tonight a little south of 3:00 in the morning. so i had a little nap before your friendly control room called me and i realized this wasn't as good of an idea as i thought that it seemed yesterday. >> well, i appreciate the sacrifice and the partial sobriety anyway. go back to bed. >> all right. >> hey, willie. it's savannah. >> savannah guthrie? >> indeed. what are you doing? you have to be at work in an hour, dude. >> i know. i'm going across the street to be with savannah guthrie at 7:00 a.m. it was my last show. >> i'm so honored to be a part of your last show. as you know, "way too early" holds a place in my heart as well. i've called into this show many, many times, willie. i'm so proud of what you've done. i just want to let you know, we're so excited to have you at the "today" show. you're going to be really excited because we actually -- when we have guests on the air, we're able to show them visually. we don't just do a phone

interview. we also show their faces. it's a real advance in technology. i think you're going to be very excited. >> we're working on it. we're working on the satellite transmission things backstage here. the truth is, savannah, and you know this having called in many times, there aren't a lot of people who want to be seen on television at 5:30 in the morning, so we gave them the option of calling in from bed. you always took that apoption. >> that's true. in fact, i have curlers in my hair right now. i'm happy to be calling in. mostly, i wanted to welcome you because the "today" show is so excited to have you. we can't wait to welcome you. we'll see you in an hour. >> all right. see you in a few minutes. thanks for calling. >> bye. >> bye. see you. still ahead, why are you awake? your farewell tweets and texts are next. and "morning joe" moments away. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup

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rachel morris, so bummed this is willie's last day. you've been my gym mate since '09. do you know how hard it is to cry on a treadmill? lindsay writes, i'm so angry at you for leaving. i'll never forgive you. jane, this is the worst day of my life. feel like i'm divorcing my tv husband. bill writes, a real man would do all three shows. >> oh, oh. i know, i thought about that recently. it would be a tough stretch. 5:30 to like 11:00 in the morning on tv every day. i guess i could do it. one more, tower? >> yes, this one from christina geist in new york. >> oh, no. my wife. >> i'm awake because this is the only way to communicate with my husband at this hour. willie, i love you, and i'm so proud of you. i'd also like to say good-bye to my invisible community of hosts watching tv at this hour. >> they are wackos. so for three years and change, we've put on a show for you with a group of producers so small we could barely feel the starting five for a pick-up game. actually, we couldn't.

unless it was like a three-on-three. that handful of producers you see here, you never get a chance to see them. they come to work in the darkness. they write scripts, edit video. they pull cable, wire microphones. they adjust laights, coordinate satellites. they run a prompter. in the case of our man q, they spin late '80s, early '90s hip-hop at 5:30 in the morning. there's nothing like a little cable news accompanied by nwa and epmd. we're truly a family in this 30-minute piece of tv real estate we seized not long ago. this is the brains behind the operation, my good friend john tower. you see him on camera every day. this show and "morning joe" simply not possible without him. she's a super star. john tower. alex, our executive producer. stucky over here punching the buttons, making me look good. and this